


In which Peter lies but he has a good reason

by Shmooshedbreadsticks



Series: Endgame fix-it’s and whatnot [1]
Category: MCU, Marvel, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 01:35:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20073955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shmooshedbreadsticks/pseuds/Shmooshedbreadsticks





	In which Peter lies but he has a good reason

After everyone went they're separate ways from Tony's funeral, many people kept in touch. Peter kept in touch with Happy and spent some time with Pepper and Morgan. He also found that he quite enjoyed the New York Sanctum, in part because it was so close. Dr. Strange could be strict and not appreciate Peter's gen Z jokes, but they found a common ground in their shared eagerness to learn. It just so happened that on this day that Peter was reading in the Sanctum, Pepper stopped by. 

"Hello Ms. Stark." Dr. Strange greeted as he looked up from his reading. She gave a small smile and returned the greeting. Not long after, Peter walked in not looking up from his book.

"Dr. Strange, do you think an astral projection could be used to-" he started finally noticing Pepper. "Hey Ms. Stark!"

"Hello Peter, I didn't know you were studying the mystic arts?" She said.

"Oh I'm not. Well I mean I am, but not to practice. I just find learning about it extremely fascinating." Peter rambled mildly. Ever since— well everything happened, his ramblings have become shorter.

"Oh that's nice," Pepper said bittersweetly. He reminds her of Tony. "Well I just came to ask Dr. Strange some questions about what happened after the snap, but I can always come back another time." 

Both Peter and Strange stiffened a but at her words. Strange looked to Peter, concerned and seemingly asking him what he though. Peter refused to meet his eyes, but could feel the question all the same. 

"No, it's fine. I'll just be reading over here, as long as you don't mind me being here." He said picking his book back up.

"Of course I don't mind honey." Pepper assured him. Dr. Strange led her to some comfy chairs in the room and used his sling ring to get them both some tea from the kitchen.

"So what did you want to know?" Dr. Strange asked, pouring the tea.

"When Thanos snapped and everyone turned to dust, where did they go?" She asked solemnly. Peter shifted in the corner, but remained silent.

"We..." Dr. Strange began, searching for his words. "We were in the soul stone. It's like a pocket dimension, but it wasn't like our world. We had half of all the population, plants, and animal, but that was it. No sky, just orange."

"Were you all together?" Pepper asked.

"Yes. Some people even organized us into makeshift societies." Dr. Strange confirmed. Pepper nodded but still seemed confused. Peter seemed to notice this, but he only tried harder to focus on his book. It didn't matter though, as he was so distracted that he had been reading the same sentence over the whole time.

"So how long passed for everyone in the stone?" She asked.

"About a year and a half passed for us, while five years passed for everyone else." He clarified.

"But I thought that it was almost instantly that you guys came back?" Pepper asked, but Strange gave her a quizzical look. "Tony has the communicators on in our suits so I heard him talking to someone. I couldn't pay close enough attention to who it was at the time, but they made it seem that everyone in the soul stone just popped in and out of existence quickly." There was a moment of silence following.

"Ms. Stark-" 

"Call me Pepper"

"Pepper," Dr. Strange amended. "I truly am sorry for what happened to your husband, but you need to know there was no other way. I searched over 14 million futures, and this was the only one in which we won. He knew that too."

"I know, and I don't blame you, I blame that purple bastard." Pepper assures, grimacing at the mention of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-In-This-Household.

"Well, I-" Dr. Strange started before being cut off by Peter, now attentive.

"It was me." Peter said, causing both of them to turn to him. "We were in there for a year and a half, and I wanted to know how we won. Dr. Strange didn't want to tell me at first, because he knew I would try to change it, but after a while, he decided he could trust me not to do anything."

"I knew," he said hollowly, his face showing no emotion at he stared at the floorboards. "I knew I couldn't tell Mr. Stark because it would change what happened."

"Ms. Stark?" Peter asked nervously as he finially looked up at her. "Would you rather die thinking half the population was lost for over a year, or thinking that everything instantly went back to normal?" He asked seriously.

"If you're asking if I think you did the right thing," Pepper stared with misty eyes. "I think that Tony would have blamed himself even though it wasn't his fault. He died surrounded by the people he loved. I appreciate it Peter."


End file.
